Home air con (likely portable I suppose)?

grumpy_codger

B0bbyEwing said:

Out of interest have any of you ran a test on those ceiling fans? 

As in checked the temp when it's not on, turned it on & then checked the temp again? I don't expect results to be instant but it may be a doable alalternative.A

A ceiling fan can make the temperature below only higher, not lower. It's pure physics, there is no point in running any tests.
It's the air flow that makes the difference even if the air temperature is 30C.

B0bbyEwing

grumpy_codger said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Out of interest have any of you ran a test on those ceiling fans? 

As in checked the temp when it's not on, turned it on & then checked the temp again? I don't expect results to be instant but it may be a doable alalternative.A

A ceiling fan can make the temperature below only higher, not lower. It's pure physics, there is no point in running any tests.
It's the air flow that makes the difference even if the air temperature is 30C.

So it just stays hot with a breeze then. In fact hotter with a breeze. 

I remember reading something about them years ago with a claim that it draws hot air up and pushes cooler air down, which is where my question on it came from. 

grumpy_codger

B0bbyEwing said:

grumpy_codger said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Out of interest have any of you ran a test on those ceiling fans? 

As in checked the temp when it's not on, turned it on & then checked the temp again? I don't expect results to be instant but it may be a doable alalternative.A

A ceiling fan can make the temperature below only higher, not lower. It's pure physics, there is no point in running any tests.
It's the air flow that makes the difference even if the air temperature is 30C.

So it just stays hot with a breeze then. In fact hotter with a breeze. 

Is it really a fact? Hotter only if the breeze is hotter than your body temperature. And even if it's the same temperature it still cools the body because of some sweat evaporation. Once again, pure physics.

I remember reading something about them years ago with a claim that it draws hot air up and pushes cooler air down, which is where my question on it came from. 

It blows the air down, ultimately mixing hot air at the top with cooler air near the floor. As a result, the temperature gets almost uniform everywhere, about the same as it used to be in the middle, half way up from the floor, higher than at the bed level.

There are three ways of heat transfer from your body: conduction, convection, and radiation. Air flow increases convection (and evaporation).

nologo

The west facing room in our house gets silly hot in summer, my plan is to install "french style" external shutters that block the sun throughout the day, no running cost or noise.

subjecttocontract

I would also point out that they are very, very noisy. +
They are also very, very heavy......so portable only by virtue of having wheels but not easy to move around.
I've had a few of them over the years but wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
Get a wall mounted split system as previously mentioned.....they are impressive.

Bigphil1474

We used to have a couple of those portable units in a problematic office and they are quite noisy. If it was next to your desk, you had to turn it off when using the phone, plus the big hose stuck out of the window. This was about 10 years ago so maybe they've improved.

Last summer we just used our Meaco fan which has a quiet mode and also oscillates in all directions. As above, the movement of air helps you feel cooler without actually cooling the air. Coupled with open windows, it was fine for us. Aren't there a few companies that make an actual air cooling fan thingamy?

FreeBear

Bigphil1474 said: Aren't there a few companies that make an actual air cooling fan thingamy?

Something like this -> https://www.mylek.co.uk/mylek-portable-air-cooler-with-ice-packs

On occasions, I've shoved a couple of 2l coke bottles filled with water in the freezer. Once frozen, sat on a table in front of a fan. Nice cool breeze for a few hours.

Exodi

B0bbyEwing said:

Out of interest have any of you ran a test on those ceiling fans? 

As in checked the temp when it's not on, turned it on & then checked the temp again? I don't expect results to be instant but it may be a doable alternative. 

Fan's do not change the temperature of a room (well technically anything with moving parts and thus friction will generate a slight amount of heat) - though as we all know they do make you feel cooler as they increase evapouration of sweat with the air moving across your skin.

In my opinion there are three main problems with aircon units:

1. Noise: some of the ones I've used are similar in volume to a hairdryer. As a light sleeper - I would need to pre-cool the room before bedtime as I couldn't sleep with it on. I personally don't use one in the bedroom, option for a cheap fan instead which is much quieter.
2. Portability: as someone else said, it's portable in the sense it has wheels... in practice you have to vent it out of a window and use a sealing kit to prevent any outside air coming back in. I wouldn't plan on thinking you'll be casually moving it from upstairs to downstairs everyday. Have fun hoisting that into the loft every year after the 2 weeks of warm weather is up.
3. Cost: not so much just the upfront cost of an air conditioner (but worth noting that they cost around £200 compared to £20 for a fan), but the running cost is also significantly higher - around 30p - 35p per hour. A pedastal fan might be around 2 - 2.5p per hour.

Given how short the hot weather lasts in the UK, my wife and I just use cheap pedestal fans in the rooms (which we can leave on during the night).

ic

Bigphil1474 said:

Aren't there a few companies that make an actual air cooling fan thingamy?

Evaporative coolers.  Just blow a mist of water at you - has a temporary cooling effect - seen it used in shopping centres in Spain where they just blast out a mist of water above the walkways, its lush!

QrizB

B0bbyEwing said:

Hence looking in to A/C units & would like to hear from others who've got them.

We've got one. Purchased second hand on eBay in 2015, in November IIRC, for £20. The first owner had been using it in his conservatory that summer but didn't want to store it over the winter. It's still going strong a decade later.

Our bedrooms mostly face south-ish and catch the sun. That's lovely right now - wake up, open the curtains, sunlight floods in - but can get oppressive in the height of summer.

Step one in dealing with this was fitting blackout blinds. These help keep the heat in I'm winter and also reduce solar gain if we leave them closed during daytime in summer. Only when that's insufficient do we hook up the air conditioner.

It is noisy. I can sleep through it (I can sleep with almost any steady noise) but Mrs QrizB doesn't like it so I move it out to the landing overnight. Leaving the bedroom doors open to let air circulate.

In 2022 when we had those 40-degree days it kept the bedrooms below 30 (I want to say mid-20s but that might be misremembering), which was greatly appreciated.